The National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja presided over by His Lordship Honourable Justice E.D Isele on 8^th of October 2015 delivered judgement in a suit filed by a former staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Mrs. Roalat Omotanwa Omotara.

In a Complaint filed before the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja, Mrs. Omotara challenged her disengagement from the services of the Commission as a result of the Redundancy declared by the Commission in 2012, on the following grounds:

·         That the Head of Service is responsible for promotion and discipline of staff of the NIMC

·         That section 32 of the NIMC ACT did not spell out educational qualification for staff of NIMC.

·         That the issue of qualification is regulated by the Public Service Rules and not the NIMC Condition of service.

Based on the above grounds Mrs. Omotara urgled the court to declare her disengagement null and void. She equally prayed the court to reinstate and promote her to the next level.

The NIMC through its legal team made up of Esangbedo Festus Esq, Muazu Dikwa Esq. and Isa Usman Esq. argued that the NIMC followed the extant Labour laws of this Country in disengaging the affected members of staff.

The legal team further submitted that the Commission is a statutory body with its own Board which has the power to appoint, promote, terminate and dismiss its staff.

In his judgement the presiding Judge upheld the submission of the NIMC legal team and upheld the position of the laws as follows:

·         That the NIMC board is responsible for the discipline, engagement, promotion, termination, dismissal and formulation of policies for the day to day activities of the commission.

·         That the Redundancy declared in 2012 which resulted to disengagement of some staff, by the Commission followed all the laid down procedures in the Nigeria Labour laws.

Consequently, the court dismissed the claim of Mrs. Omotara for lacking in merit and failure to prove her case.

In a related development, the National Industrial Court has also adjourned a similar case filed against the Commission by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) to the 15^th December, 2015.